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REST API
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Getting started

Making requests

The ChartBlocks API is hosted at https://api.chartblocks.com/v1/. The API is REST based, providing access to chart, set, data and user information.

To generate charts on-the-fly, please see the Image API.

SDK's

To get you up and running with the API as quickly as possible we've implemented an SDK for PHP. Other languages will be available shortly.

Authorization

The majority of API calls must be made as an authorized user. An ACCESS_TOKEN and SECRET_KEY can be generated from your ChartBlocks profile page. Together these are used to sign requests.

Authorizing a request

We'd suggest using one our pre-built SDKs if you're new to development, but to authenticate requests in your own clients, please read on.

Your SECRET_KEY is never sent in the request, only the ACCESS_TOKEN. The SECRET_KEY is used to generate a SIGNATURE which both authenticates the request as coming from you, and mitigates man in the middle attacks.

The signature is sent in your HTTP request using the Authorization header in the format:

{% highlight js %} 'Authorization: BASIC ' . base64_encode(ACCESS_TOKEN . ':' . SIGNATURE); {% endhighlight %}

Generating a signature

This snippet of psuedo code describes how to generate a signature. It should be possible to implement this in your language of choice.

{% highlight js %} var key1 = sha1(body); var key2 = key1 . SECRET_KEY; var key3 = sha1(key2); var signature = base64_encode(key3); {% endhighlight %}

The body variable is your request body. For a GET request this would be your query parameters in the format:

param1=val&param2=val

For POST, PUT and PATCH requests this would be your request body, normally a JSON document, i.e.:

{% highlight json %} { "name": "My Chart", "isPublic": true } {% endhighlight %}

The SECRET_KEY is obtained along with the ACCESS_TOKEN from the profile page of your ChartBlocks account.

Item tokens

Charts and datasets can are assigned a token, allowing people without a ChartBlocks account to view private items providing they know the token.

To request a chart or set with a token, pass the given token as a GET parameter of t, i.e.

https://api.chartblocks.com/v1/chart/541fdd38c9a61d68707f9d86**?t=c9ea94ad**

Chart config

The chart config object can end up rather large, and contains enough parameters to warrant its own documentation page. Please reference the Chart Config documentation separately for more information on how to format your config object.

Resources

{% for group in site.data.rest.apidoc.groups %} {% include rest/group.html group = group %} {% endfor %}